DeSantis Gunhide Question of the Day: What Makes a Gun Beautiful?

Somehow I don’t think that the AR above will be joining 3-Gun competitor Ms. Reanna Kadic at her Junior Prom. But there’s no question that both gun and girl are lovely. Yup, I reckon Ms. Kadic’s AR is a babe. But then my aesthetic appreciation runs the gamut, from the minimalist GLOCK 19 (true story) to the epic Ma Deuce to a sublime Holland & Holland shotgun. Question: what makes some guns gorgeous and renders others “physically challenged”? Please give examples (and links if possible).

55 Responses to DeSantis Gunhide Question of the Day: What Makes a Gun Beautiful?

The same reasons that makes cars or other mechanical objects beautiful; engineering and ergonomics. My self-defense weapons are functional and durable. All the others ones? I just reward good designs with those.

It’s like anything else the beauty is in the eye…
The most beautiful is the moment, the brief moment when you squeeze the trigger and know it’s all good before the round even exits the barrel because it will do it’s part when you do yours.

I tend to appeal to character features, so they all look good to me. Tooling marks on a ’44 Mosin? Thats a feature. Bluing deep enough to swim through on a Python? Drool. The cast zinc brick of a slide on a HiPoint? I wouldn’t kick her out of the safe. The classic lines on an old SxS shotgun? Let me run my hand down them long barrels. The Zip .22? …Hit the lights we’ll make this work.

If a gun is just stamped plastic attached to metal it is not attractive but probably practical. If a gun has good ergonomics and machinery that went into it and some good wood work then it is a beauty. Also classic guns like 1911s and M1 Garands have a special beauty to them.

This is something that’s extremely subjective. I love not only a gun that’s aesthetically pleasing but also the internal mechanisms. I love brilliantly engineered firearms where you can take apart the mechanisms and appreciate both the quality of manufacture and their well thought out designs. Even with tactical tupperware or an MSR like an AR.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, based on experience, prejudice, education, influence of friends and relatives, not to mention “Je ne sais quoi”. I have no use for engraving, “fine” shotguns and rifles worth thousands, cocking serrations at the front of a slide, or beaver tails on a 1911.
But history, especially military, can make me fall in love. I hold that a S&W K-frame 3-inch, heavy bbl, round butt revolver the most symmetrical and elegant of all handguns. I love the mechanical innovation, operation, and lines of a HK P7. I love any stock 1911. The most beautiful handgun ever is the Luger. The most beautiful rifle? An M1 Garand. Submachine gun ? Thompson, M1A1, with a Cutts compensator just like Sgt. Saunders’ on “Combat”, of course. But an MP 40 is close. A S&W Mod. 25-2 in .45acp is lovely for is beautiful blue, 61/2 inch bbl. and amazing cloverleaf accuracy at 25yds. I can’t resist the romance and legacy of Ma Deuce, or a Civil War Springfield or Enfield rifle.
Finally, my Gen 1 G19, my EDC since 9-89. Ugly, but flawlessly reliable. “Old Heinrich” is tops for cocealabilty, capacity, durability and real-world accuracy.
These are the guns I love. Some I own, some I dream of owning.
Your favorites are different, and all just as worthy and valid.

Also agreed. I chose the 336 as my example because I own one that’s adorned with Skinner sights, but you can’t top those Henry rifles. My son’s Henry Golden Boy is so pretty some people almost don’t dare to shoot it.

The institutional design of many modern guns is not beautiful. ARs and modern semi-auto pistols work great for the most part, but sadly they have no soul. They aren’t crafted, they’re assembled. They are appliances. It would be just as easy to ogle a washing machine as it would be to ogle a black plastic gun.

Modern guns that exhibit wonderful craftsmanship and aesthetics for no other reason than the manufacturer’s pride, now what’s beautiful. Unless the guns don’t work, in which case they are not so beautiful.

Even old guns that were never intended for any purpose but to be tools of war or hunting can be beautiful, because they were made by people who cared about the way their products looked as well as the way they worked.

That’s how Col. Patterson got the holes in the train rails that he used to build the cage that failed to capture the Tsavo maneating lions back in 1800 and whatever it was. Except he used a .303.
It failed by the wierdest coincidence imaginable, but it wasn’t the holes fault. One of the human laborers he was using for bait opened fire at point blank range, missed the lion, and hit the bolt holding the door closed.

My 110 year old Winchester Model 1906 takedown .22 is a thing of beauty…. the bluing is long gone, but it has a perfect plum-colored patina and the Winchester rollmarks are still distinct. The wood has lots of honest wear from years of varmint-duty on a Michigan farm, and each scratch or dent tells a story. The bore was worn smooth from countless thousands of rounds, but after receiving a quality barrel liner along with some replacement parts in the action and attention from a quality gunsmith, it’s laser-like accurate and reliable. I have other rifles that are attractive and fun in their own rights, but I reach for the Winchester whenever I feel the need for some quality alone-time on the range.

While I can admire artisan craftsmanship, I would not own any. Mechinical design and its resulting function is the true beauty of a firearm. The rest is just skin deep and normally does nothing to improve the results at the target. Never saw a pink or stainless finish outshoot a blue or black on. Lol

Beauty in all things – cars, women, guns – is pretty subjective. My appreciation of beautiful things hasn’t changed very much over the years. 65 Mustangs still look great. My wife of 40 years is still a hot number (Remember “Granny Oakley” with the pink hat and coach gun?). The classics in my collection like my SAA Colt clone, Winchester 94, 1911’s, Garand, Model 70, Smith 686 are all beautiful guns. Maybe its because they fit my hands so well and maybe its because they have so much history to remember (and I could say the same for momma but don’t tell her!). I’ve got a couple of AR’s and a striker fired Springfield XD9, but the best guns I own are steel and walnut and remind me of the days gone by.